"The worst death for anyone is to lose the center of his being, the thing he really is. Retirement is the filthiest word in the language. Whether by choice or by fate, to retire from what you do - and makes you what you are - is to back up into the grave."

Ernest Hemingway Literature See all quotes by Ernest Hemingway →

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“I've been in love (truly) with five women, the Spanish Republic and the 4th Infantry Division.”

“I know monks masturbate at night That pet cats screw That some girls bite And yet What can I do To set things right?”

“Grace under pressure.”

“I wonder what your idea of heaven would be — A beautiful vacuum filled with wealthy monogamists. All powerful and members of the best families all drinking themselves to death. And hell would probably be an ugly vacuum full of poor polygamists unable to obtain booze or with chronic stomach disorders that they called secret sorrows.”

“The age demanded that we danceAnd jammed us into iron pants.And in the end the age was handedThe sort of shit that it demanded.”

“All you can be sure about in a political-minded writer is that if his work should last you will have to skip the politics when you read it. Many of the so-called politically enlisted writers change their politics frequently... Perhaps it can be respected as a form of the pursuit of happiness.”

Resonant Thoughts

"and you, my compatriots in Norway, have no grounds for complaining that we have forgotten the dear, familiar and specific character with which God has endowed our land and our nation. That is so firml…"

— Hans Gude

Art1825–1903

#wisdom

"It is real-life class struggle, informed no doubt by ideas, that ultimately determines which way the world will move. Hence even for altering contemporary capitalism in the direction of the so-called …"

— Prabhat Patnaik

Economics1945

#time

"Now, before I begin, I'd just like to clear the air about that little controversy everybody was talking about a few weeks back. I have to tell you, I really thought this was much ado about nothing, bu…"

— Barack Obama

Politics1961

#mind

"A culture that is in the process of being swamped by another often reacts by physically grappling with the outsiders. But it may wage a cultural war as well. Such defensive actions have been given var…"

— Peter Farb

Science1929–1980

#society